Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 71,927 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Key Points

• Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its stake in The Mosaic Company by 17.8%, selling 71,927 shares during the first quarter, now owning approximately 0.10% of Mosaic.
• Several analysts have increased their target prices for Mosaic, with JPMorgan Chase raising it from $29.00 to $35.00 and UBS upgrading the rating from "neutral" to "buy".
• The Mosaic Company reported $0.49 EPS for the last quarter, beating estimates, but saw a 2.2% year-over-year revenue decline with total revenues of $2.62 billion.

Federated Hermes Inc. lessened its stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) by 17.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 332,208 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 71,927 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. owned 0.10% of Mosaic worth $8,973,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MOS. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Mosaic in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in shares of Mosaic in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of Mosaic by 102.3% in the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,062 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 537 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Mosaic in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank lifted its holdings in Mosaic by 54.1% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 3,374 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 1,185 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% of the company's stock.

Mosaic Stock Down 12.4%

Shares of MOS traded down $4.42 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $31.27. 12,211,667 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,549,625. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $36.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.81. The Mosaic Company has a twelve month low of $22.36 and a twelve month high of $38.23. The stock has a market cap of $9.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.71 by ($0.20). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.11 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 3.32% and a return on equity of 4.91%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Mosaic

In other news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 18,000 shares of Mosaic stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.73, for a total transaction of $643,140.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 128,546 shares in the company, valued at $4,592,948.58. The trade was a 12.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MOS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Mosaic from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Barclays upped their price target on Mosaic from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. BNP Paribas upgraded Mosaic to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $43.00 price target (up from $39.00) on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Mosaic presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $36.83.

About Mosaic

The Mosaic Company, through its subsidiaries, produces and markets concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients in North America and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Phosphates, Potash, and Mosaic Fertilizantes. It owns and operates mines, which produce concentrated phosphate crop nutrients, such as diammonium phosphate, monoammonium phosphate, and ammoniated phosphate products; and phosphate-based animal feed ingredients primarily under the Biofos and Nexfos brand names, as well as produces a double sulfate of potash magnesia product under K-Mag brand name.